1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the wire transmission of serial digital data, and more particularly, it pertains to transmitter/receiver modules capable of both modulating and demodulating serial digital data for sending or receiving said data.
2. Description of the Prior Art
During the past twenty years or so there has been a continuous reduction in the size, weight, and cost of signal processor functional elements of more than three orders of magnitude while the communication technology used to integrate electronic systems has remained essentially unchanged. With the increased demands being placed on digital hardware and the greater functional densities of the processors required for interfacing, the resulting proliferation of cabling and switching hardware is reaching prohibitive levels.
Consequently, there presently exists a need for a pulse coded binary digital data transmission system which can operate by means of a series of data links interconnected by universally adaptable transmitter/receiver modules. These modules--which form the heart of any such data transmission system, must be capable of readily interfacing with existing digital signal hardware, and they must be both inexpensive to manufacture and yet highly reliable in providing a variety of useable processing functions.
In the prior art systems, the circuitry for transmitting and receiving serial digital data are generally either entirely separate or they are keyed to the particular equipment for which they were designed to be interfaced with. No successful transmitter/receiver module for handling serial digital data of the type processed by the apparatus of the present invention is currently available.